The veteran radio personality recently released his self-published memoir “Hyena,” although listeners might be surprised if Angelini were to mention his work.

Advertisement

“I don’t push it too hard,” he said. “The thing that makes me good is that I don’t care that much about it.”

The book offers a detailed recollection of stories detailing Angelini’s sexual exploits and drug use recalled from his 36 years of age. In these stories and flashbacks to his childhood and teen years, readers learn how the always unapologetic Angelini’s lifestyle was shaped.

“In my neighborhood, you couldn’t be weak. How much you could get out of someone, cars, getting bills paid … manipulation was accepted.

“I don’t explain it. I show you how somebody could come to that conclusion.

“I’m just writing stuff down and you can come to whatever conclusion you want. It really depends on your emotional depth.”

Many elaborate stories from Angelini’s adult life filled with parties and drugs also land on dedicated pages.

Now on its third edition, “Hyena” has been republished and repackaged with revisions. Also, the book is only available in hard copy — no digital downloads.

Angelini said he’s attempting to put significance back into books, rather than allowing his to be disregarded as just another item of disposable media. He acknowledging he is not the archetypal author to take such a challenge.

“We’re not putting value into books anymore. This is a collector’s piece of art.”

Angelini called the writing cathartic and the stories “raw,” saying the creative process led to laughter and tears and will likely do the same to readers.

“You’re laughing at me getting through it, but it’s not funny,” like the animal which inspired the book’s title, he said. “Comedy a lot of times is real (stuff).”

Angelini knows the book will not suit everyone’s tastes, but promised fans of the show will appreciate and enjoy his storytelling.

“I’ve got a very niché market,” he said. “I’m not Ryan Seacrest.”

Regardless of the crowd for his book, it’s selling well, Angelini said, adding he is working on the fourth revision.

Angelini also hopes to separate himself from the hip hop persona that comes with his day job. He can rattle off countless classic rock acts he’d prefer hearing than today’s rappers, and counts antiquing and backgammon among his pastime pursuits.

“‘Rude Jude’ is a character I play,” he said. “I’m more than that.”

“I don’t care about Ciroc and Jordans. I’m too old to put a sticker on my hat.”

Without the benefit of a promotional team, Angelini is left to fend for himself. Early returns are “way better” than anticipated, he said.

Although he was not a student, Angelini began his radio career at WXOU, the radio station on the campus of Oakland University. The short-lived show, of which he could not recall the name, after a dispute with another show host. His Oakland County roots show further in “Hyena” through periodic references to area streets, such as Pontiac’s Perry Street or Old Perch in Rochester Hills.

Angelini really got his start in entertainment as a recurring guest on the 1990s talk show “The Jenny Jones Show,” where he served as a jester, insulting female guests. The gig didn’t pay well, though, Angelini said, forcing to continue working in the Detroit area at various low-paying, part-time jobs, including as a custodian at a strip club.

When the show ended, Angelini ventured westward to Los Angeles, where had to keep hustling to get noticed as an upstart actor, but the “Jenny Jones” fame didn’t hold much weight in Hollywood. He doesn’t run from the reputation he earned on the program, but remembers executives treating him like “white trash” because of the role he played in the show.

Angelini admitted he made missteps early, though.

“I burned a lot of bridges,” he said. “When you get older, you learn to shut up.”

Through a mutual connection, Angelini was able to get an audition nearly a decade ago for a talk show on the fledgling station Shade 45, run by fellow Detroiter Eminem.

Although he’s found success, Angelini longs to settle down and eventually return, with a family in tow, to his home state.

Despite calling California home for a decade, Angelini said he feels trapped between Detroit and L.A., with neither city claiming his rights.

“I feel like I’m a foreigner everywhere I go,” he said. “I don’t feel like I fit in L.A., either.”

WIth his first self-published effort, Angelini may have found the perfect fit, using the written word as another outlet for his demons and frustrations.